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Nova can’t return soon enough.  When he does, maybe Warren can go back to the pen to help Betances out while Miller gets healthy.

[Photo Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sport]

Got to figure the Warriors are going to even-up the Finals tonight (in fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cavs don’t win another game).

I’ll be pulling for Lebron and his boys, though.

Painting by Ernest Barnes, Jr.

Picture by Linda Christensen via Susan Zweig]

Bout that time of year again, ain’t it?

R.I.P. Ornette Coleman.

“I was out at [anthropologist] Margaret Mead’s school and was teaching some little kids how to play instantly. I asked the question, ‘How many kids would like to play music and have fun?’ And all the little kids raised up their hands. And I asked, ‘Well, how do you do that?’ And one little girl said, ‘You just apply your feelings to sound.’ And I said, ‘Come and show me.’ When she went to the piano to do it, she tried to show me, but she had forgotten about what she said. So I tried to show her why all of a sudden all her attention span had to go to another level, and after that she went ahead and did it. But she was right: If you apply your feelings to sound, regardless of what instrument you have, you’ll probably make good music.”–Ornette Coleman.

For more, dig this, this, this and then Go here for a listen. 

[Photo Credit: Roberto Polillo via Jazz in Photo]

It’s Senior Eovaldi as the Yanks and Nats play a matinee in the Bronx.

Brett Gardner CF

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Carlos Beltran RF

Chris Young LF

Jose Pirela 2B

Brendan Ryan SS

Never mind the commencement speech:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Tanaka vs. Scherzer at the Stadium tonight. Should be a good one.

Brett Gardner CF

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Carlos Beltran RF

Didi Gregorius SS

Stephen Drew 2B

Ramon Flores LF

Never mind the raindrops:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Salted Peanut Caramel Ice Cream Bars.

Who’s the Boz?

Picture by Bags.

Will Eisner.

Found in the $1.00 cutout bin at a record store in Jersey.

[Photo Via: Wikipedia]

Tonight gives the draft. And an open chat.

Have at it.

Picture by Bags

Nice job by the New Yorker allowing us to dig Lillian Ross’ famous 1950 profile of Hemingway (and thanks to Longform for linking it on their site):

After getting his necktie off, and then his jacket, Hemingway handed them to his wife, who went into the bedroom, saying she was going to unpack. He unbuttoned his collar and went over to the telephone. “Got to call the Kraut,” he said. He telephoned the Plaza and asked for Miss Dietrich. She was out, and he left word for her to come over for supper. Then he called room service and ordered caviar and a couple of bottles of Perrier-Jouët, brut.

Hemingway went back to the bookcase and stood there stiffly, as though he could not decide what to do with himself. He looked at the pasteboard backs again and said, “Phony, just like the town.” I said that there was a tremendous amount of talk about him these days in literary circles—that the critics seemed to be talking and writing definitively not only about the work he had done but about the work he was going to do. He said that of all the people he did not wish to see in New York, the people he wished least to see were the critics. “They are like those people who go to ball games and can’t tell the players without a score card,” he said. “I am not worried about what anybody I do not like might do. What the hell! If they can do you harm, let them do it. It is like being a third baseman and protesting because they hit line drives to you. Line drives are regrettable, but to be expected.” The closest competitors of the critics among those he wished least to see, he said, were certain writers who wrote books about the war when they had not seen anything of war at first hand. “They are just like an outfielder who will drop a fly on you when you have pitched to have the batter hit a high fly to that outfielder, or when they’re pitching they try to strike everybody out.” When he pitched, he said, he never struck out anybody, except under extreme necessity. “I knew I had only so many fast balls in that arm,” he said. “Would make them pop to short instead, or fly out, or hit it on the ground, bouncing.”

Have you ever seen C.C. Sabathia as hot as he was yesterday at the end of the 6th inning? He was in the right to be pissed and his ejection was entertaining. So was the rest of the game, apart from the first inning when Mike Trout and Albert Pujols hit solo home runs against Sabathia. The Yanks hit three long balls of their own–Chris Young, Brett Gardner, Jose Pirela–and sailed to a 6-2 win and a series sweep.

[Photo Credit: Seth Wenig, AP]

Couple of southpaws on the hill this afternoon at the Stadium on a beautiful Sunday in the Bronx.

Brett Gardner CF

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Carlos Beltran RF

Chris Young LF

Jose Pirela 2B

John Ryan Murphy C

Didi Gregorius SS

Never mind those flapjacks:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Man, oh, man, the Yanks put a beating on Garrett Richards last night and that first inning drubbing was enough to propel them to a breezy, 8-2 win.

Yanks get a tough assignment tonight in Garrett Richards. They’ll counter with Adam Warren, who is pitching these days

Brett Gardner CF

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Carlos Beltran RF

Didi Gregorius SS

Stephen Drew 2B

Ramon Flores LF

Never mind last night’s close call:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

There are a lot of wonderful things that have happened to me because I started Bronx Banter back in 2002. But nothing’s been better than the friendships I’ve made along the way. I’ve become pals with a handful of readers–either via email or phone or even in person. One of my best Banter pals is known around these parts as “Dimelo”. We’ve known each other socially for close to 10 years now. Last night he came over and brought me this cake as a belated birthday present (never mind Hank and McCovey, I just turned Reggie Jackson).

Thing is, Dimelo loves listening to John and Suzyn on the radio. My wife Emily loves John and Suzyn too and some point along the way I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb that is John and Suzyn myself. Just for the comedy. So I was delighted Dimelo walked into our apartment last night and presented me with this cake with one of John’s favorite sayings.

The other thing you should know is that as much as Dimelo loves Ma and Pa Pinstipes he hates Stephen Drew in equal measure. “A little part of me dies every time I have to watch him hit,” Dimelo told me recently. So you can imagine the laughs we had when Drew went deep once and then again.

“And look, he’s still only hitting .174. Fuck that guy.”

When Drew came to bat in the bottom of the 8th inning with the bases loaded I told Dimelo that I’d blow him if Drew hit a grand slam. He said, “Don’t worry, he’s not getting a hit.” Drew grounded out and I was spared the embarrassment of welching on that bet.

A few innings earlier I said, “Man, in honor of John and ‘there’s no predicting baseball’ what if the Yankees blow this–especially to the Angels?”

Dimelo said, “If that happens I fucking hope Drew is the guy that blows it.”

Well, Drew had nothing to do with what almost became a nightmare. The Yanks had an 8-1 9th inning lead. The bad feelings started when Jose Pierla and Chase Headley let a ball drop between them in the infield. It was an easy pop up, but they didn’t communicate and Headley ran away from the spot where the ball landed. It looked bad. Then things got worse–base hits, wild pitch, walks, runs. All this with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, who had been pulled from the blowout game the previous inning–on the bench.

Never mind how irritating it was to see Dellin Betances have to pitch, once he got in the game, he didn’t pitch well. Couldn’t locate the breaking ball and mysteriously stopped throwing his fastball. Things got so close that suddenly the score was 8-6 and with 1 out and the bases loaded, the tying run was on second.

Emily, Dimelo and I watched the game with the TV on mute and listened to John who said, “If the Yanks lose this game it will be the worse loss I can remember.”

Didi Gregorious made a nice diving stop in the hole to save a base hit–and a tied game–and got the force at second for out number two. Next, Betances threw five straight curveballs to pinch hitter Carlos Perez, striking him out on the final one.

Good enough for schvitzy 8-7 win. And yes, Suzyn, there’s no predicting baseball.

By the way, the cake–with some kind of delicious cream cheese frosting, was red velvet inside, and easily one of the best birthday cakes I’ve ever had.

The Angels are in town for a visit this weekend.

The Big Question Mark, Mr. Eovaldi’s on the hill; McCann’s in the lineup.

Brett Gardner CF

Chase Headley 3B

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Garrett Jones RF

Didi Gregorius SS

Stephen Drew 2B

Ramon Flores LF

Never mind the jet lag:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Class is in session. From the most excellent Notes on New York.